Top 5 Paranormal Docs to Stream on Halloween

Watching a horror movie on Halloween night is pretty cliche. I’m no prude, but once in a while, I need something spooky and ‘real’ to get the old heart pumping. So, for all you paranormal nerds and alien junkies, here is a quick list of some great documentaries to stream on Halloween night.

Seth Breedlove’s latest monster film is a real gem. With one of the best opening sequences I have ever seen in any monster documentary, Breedlove weaves together a stellar tale of a werewolf, and other bizarre paranormal phenomena, which haunts the quiet Bray Road in small-town Wisconsin. By the end, you are genuinely nervous about letting your kids outside to play.

Aaron Mahnke, the guy who started the famous podcast, Lore, debuted the TV series on Amazon in 2015. With some eerie subjects, great animated sequences and cute, albeit violent, recreations, Lore is a critically acclaimed gem of a series. There is nothing quite like watching a guy suffer as his face is impaled on a tree, and then have his charming German girlfriend show up only to get ripped apart by a werewolf. Season 2 is now out, and it is messed up, so you have some serious binge-watching ahead of you.

Love it or hate it, Jeremy Corbell’s 2017 documentary begs an eerie question; why do aliens abduct normal people? You walk away unsure after seeing this little gem. While you have more questions than answers by the end, you feel nothing but sorry for the man who woke up one day with something implanted inside him by, well, who knows what. This one is less about scaring you immediately, and more about the slow burn. Two or three days later, on some idle Thursday, you start to wonder, “if that dude was abducted, what about me?”

Nearly a decade old, the tale of a Staten Island urban legend still scares the crap out of me. When I first saw this film, I was a little underwhelmed. I was also in my twenties. I was young and stupid. Now that I’m much older, and have two little children, this film makes me want to buy a gun. Connecting myth to reality, this film follows the disappearance of five children, the legend of a folkloric boogeyman, and the actual kidnapper who may have taken them. If you don’t have kids, you may find this one a little tedious. If you do have kids, you will never let them go after watching this. You will also become hyper-paranoid.

If you are a UFO nerd, this documentary is essential viewing. While it feels a touch dated, it covers some of the biggest stories in the UFO narrative. With vast amounts of witness testimony, plenty of blurry inconclusive footage, and some pretty good research and documentation, this film wins the prize for “Most Ambitious.” Listen, will it convince you that extraterrestrials are visiting the planet? It tries really hard. Will it convince you that the reality you live in on a daily basis is a total sham and that your day job is basically a waste of time? Yep, because…UFOs! While this documentary won’t scare the hell out of you, you do stop to think, “What if?” That alone is pretty scary.

MJ Banias is the author of “The UFO People: A Curious Culture” and curates the popular Fortean blog “Terra Obscura" and YouTube channel. He has appeared on multiple radio shows and podcasts including Coast to Coast AM, and his work has appeared in Fortean Times Magazine, FATE Magazine and in the book, “UFOs: Reframing the Debate."